Privacy Policy

Your data stays on your device

RoutineArc stores every task, event, and note in an on-device SQLite database. There is no account and no cloud sync, and nothing you write is uploaded to us — we run no server to upload it to.

Your content leaves the device only in the specific cases described below, and each one is either optional or something you start yourself: optional address lookup, dictation you explicitly allow Apple to transcribe, opening a map, exporting a backup, sharing a PDF you exported, and buying or restoring an unlock through the App Store.

Two other things reach Apple and carry none of your content: opening Apple's Terms of Use from the unlock screen, which loads a page in a browser, and the rating prompt iOS sometimes offers, whose outcome this app never sees.

Microphone

Microphone access is used solely to convert your speech into tasks, events, and notes while you are using voice capture. RoutineArc asks for on-device recognition through iOS's own speech framework, so your audio is not sent to us and normally does not leave your phone. If your device cannot recognise your language on-device, RoutineArc offers you a choice: decline and type it instead, or accept and let Apple transcribe that recording on its servers under Apple's privacy policy. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you accept, and the choice is per session, never remembered silently.

Camera & text scanning

If you scan an image, the camera/photo access is used only to capture that image, and text recognition (OCR) runs entirely on-device via Apple's Vision framework. Images and recognized text are never uploaded or stored beyond the task/event you create.

Location

If you grant location access, RoutineArc uses it to estimate drive time to tasks and events that have a location. That estimate is computed entirely on your device — no routing or traffic service is contacted, and the position it reads is used for the calculation and then discarded.

Position is kept or sent in a few places, all of them things you tap. Saving a place with "use my current location" stores its coordinates with that place, on this device, so the drive-time estimate has something to measure to; deleting the place deletes them. Tapping the crosshair in a task or an event stores your position on that item in the same way. An event you gave an address to has that address looked up once, in the background, while address lookup is on, and the result is stored with the event. And address lookup itself, described next, can send a position off the device.

Looking up an address is a separate, optional feature. Apple's geocoder is network-backed, so enabling it sends the address you typed to the system geocoding service. Pinning "use my current location" sends your coordinates to the same system geocoder. Nothing is sent to any other company: an address the system geocoder cannot find simply does not resolve. It is OFF by default, and you can turn it on in Settings. Saved places store their coordinates once, so drive time keeps working with it off. Location is optional throughout.

On-device AI

AI features run entirely on your iPhone. Understanding what you type or say, summarising a note and suggesting subtasks use Apple Intelligence, which is built into iOS and runs on the device's Neural Engine; day planning and priority are ordinary arithmetic over your schedule rather than a model at all. There is no model to download and nothing to sign in to, and your content is never sent to a server for processing. If Apple Intelligence is unavailable, a deterministic rules engine takes over and also runs entirely on-device.

No third-party analytics

RoutineArc adds no analytics, tracking, or crash reporting, and embeds no third-party advertising or analytics SDKs. The system frameworks it uses — Vision for text recognition, Core Location for location, and Apple Intelligence for AI — are part of iOS and are governed by Apple’s own privacy policy. We do not receive any data from them.

Buying and restoring

RoutineArc is free for seven days, after which capturing or changing items needs a lifetime unlock or a yearly subscription. Purchases go through the App Store, so your payment details are handled entirely by Apple and are never seen by this app.

What RoutineArc learns is one thing: whether the Apple Account on this device holds an unlock. Not your name, not your Apple Account address, not a payment method, and not what else you have bought. That check runs on the device itself — there is still no RoutineArc account and no server of ours involved.

The seven days are counted from whichever is earlier: the date the App Store records for your first download, or the first time you opened the app. The first is read through the App Store, which a new install may have to ask once; the second is purely local. Neither is stored anywhere but this device.

Notifications

Reminder notifications are scheduled locally on your device. No notification content leaves your phone.

Export is in your hands

Data leaves in bulk only when you send it: Export data in Settings hands a JSON copy to the app you choose via the iOS share sheet, and each saved backup has its own Share button that does the same with that snapshot. Nothing is sent anywhere you did not pick.

Data collection

RoutineArc collects no personal data. There is no account, no analytics, no advertising identifier, and no tracking across apps or websites. We operate no server that receives your content.

Children

RoutineArc is not directed at children and collects no personal information from anyone, including children.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the revised version is published at this address with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about this policy: JfDevIos@gmail.com